Cape Chelyuskin
Cape Chelyuskin (Russian: мыс Челюскина) at 77°44′N 104°15′E / 77.733°N 104.250°E is the northernmost point of the Eurasian continent and is 1370 km from the North Pole. It is situated at the tip of the Taymyr Peninsula, south of Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It was initially called Cape East-Northern, but was renamed in 1842 to honor Semion Chelyuskin who described the area during an exploration in May, 1742.
History
In 1919 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's ship Maud, left behind two men, Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen, at Cape Chelyuskin after having made winter quarters there. The Maud continued eastwards into the Laptev Sea and the men were instructed to wait for the freeze-up of the Kara Sea and then sledge southwestwards towards Dikson carrying Amundsen's mail. However, these two men disappeared mysteriously and were never seen again. In 1922 Nikifor Begichev led a Soviet expedition in search for Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen on request of the government of Norway, but Begichev was not successful.
A Weather and a hydrology research base named "Polar Station Cape Chelyuskin" was constructed in 1932, and headed by Ivan Papanin. It was renamed the "E. K. Fyodorov Hydrometeorological Observatory" in 1983.
The cape hosts the northernmost airfield in Eurasia.
References
William Barr, The Last Journey of Peter Tessem and Paul Knutsen, 1919.
External links
- 17th Century Cape Exploration note
- Russian-Soviet polar stations and their role in the Arctic Seas exploration
- North Pole Drifting Stations (1930s-1980s)
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